Contents

As the 20th century approached, governments all over Europe were doing their best to win the deadly game of the arms race. But some of their subjects were beginning to fear that if the arms race led to a real war, there would be no victors. Modern weapons, argued the pacifists, had become too powerful, too destructive. If they were unleashed they might destroy Europe and roll back centuries of cultural, scientific and economic progress.

A history of the attempts to prevent warfare, starting shortly prior World War I, including the formation of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the formation of War Resisters International. While the early roots focus on European pacifism, there is also a focus on American pacifism sources, including the shift from seeking to prevent war to providing legal aid to those resisting military service, and the adoption of nonviolent means, such as employed by Mohandas Gandhi to reach the goals of peace.